Australia defeated Ireland and get the must-win in Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
Winning skipper, Aaron Finch said:
It was a good performance. Getting 180 was a decent score on that wicket. We knew we had to lay the foundation early and couldn’t risk being 4-5 down. Just a little bit of hammy tightness, he (Tim David) sat out as a precaution. It is nice when it works like that (not opening with Starc), doesn’t always work but there’s a lot of time and planning that goes into it, sometimes you look great and sometimes you look stupid, you take the good with the bad in this format. It would have been nice, having them 5 for 25 to really push that forward, Tucker played a helluva knock there.
Losing Skipper, Andy Balbirine said:
It was hardly fought. The first innings got away, we bowled well but a couple of overs didn’t go our way and certainly didn’t get the start with the bat, but to show the fight at the end was nice. Looking at the scoreboard we thought it wasn’t against us, again the wickets column was a problem and who knows if someone had stayed with Tucker. He has had a really good World Cup and these wickets here suit him.
Player of the Match, Aaron Finch said:
It wasn’t the easiest wicket, it was a lot slower than what we expected. They changed their pace really well and bowled a lot of cutters early in the innings, it was hard to get a rhythm and we did well to get 180. Not at all (felt the pressure). The support from the change room and support staff has been unbelievable. T20 is a high risk game, sometimes you get it off the middle and sometimes you don’t. Like I said, when they went to try and bowl really wide it was easier and tough when they took the pace off. Really a hammy twinge I think, I will get a scan tomorrow, I have a history of them. It doesn’t look bad at the moment but let’s see how it goes after the scan. Very hopeful (of our chances).
